Featured Post

Monday, September 14, 2009

Lilly Friedman doesn't remember the last name of the woman who designed and sewed the wedding gown she wore, when she walked down the aisle over 60 years ago.

But the grandmother of seven does recall that when she first told her fiance, Ludwig that she had always dreamed of being married in a white gown he realized he had his work cut out for him.

For the tall, lanky 21-year-old who had survived hunger, disease and torture, this was a different kind of challenge. How was he ever going to find such a dress in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Person's camp, where they felt grateful for just the clothes on their backs?

Fate would intervene in the guise of a former German pilot, who walked into the food distribution centre, where Ludwig worked, eager to make a trade for his worthless parachute. In exchange for two pounds of coffee beans, and a couple of packs of cigarettes Lilly would have her wedding gown.

For two weeks, Miriam, the seamstress worked under the curious eyes of her fellow DPs, carefully fashioning the six parachute panels into a simple, long sleeved gown with a rolled collar and a fitted waist that tied in the back with a bow. When the dress was completed, she sewed the leftover material into a matching shirt for the groom.

A white wedding gown may have seemed like a frivolous request in the surreal environment of the camps, but for Lilly the dress symbolized the innocent, normal life she and her family had once led before the world descended into madness.Lilly and her siblings were raised in a "Torah observant home" in the small town of Zarica, Czechoslovakia where her father was respected and well liked by the young yeshiva students he taught in nearby Irsheva.He and his two sons were marked for extermination immediately upon arriving at Auschwitz .

For Lilly and her sisters it was only their first stop on their long journey of persecution, which included Plashof, Neustadt, Gross Rosen and finally Bergen Belsen.

Four hundred people marched 15 miles in the snow to the town of Celle on January 27, 1946 to attend Lilly and Ludwig's wedding.

The town synagogue, damaged and desecrated, had been lovingly renovated by the DPs with the meager materials available to them. When a Sefer Torah arrived from England they converted an old kitchen cabinet into a makeshift Aron Kodesh.

"My sisters and I lost everything - our parents, our two brothers, our homes. So,the most important thing was to build a new home." Six months later, Lilly's sister Ilona wore the dress when she married Max Traeger. After that came Cousin Rosie.

How many brides wore Lilly's dress? "I stopped counting after 17."

With the camps experiencing the highest marriage rate in the world, Lilly's gown was in great demand.

In 1948 when President Harry Truman finally permitted the 100,000 Jews who had been languishing in DP camps since the end of the war to emigrate, the gown accompanied Lilly across the ocean to America .Unable to part with her dress, it lay at the bottom of her bedroom closet for the next 50 years, "not even good enough for a garage sale. I was happy when it found such a good home."Home was the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington , D.C. When Lily's niece, a volunteer, told museum officials about her aunt's dress, they immediately recognized its historical significance and displayed the gown in a specially designed showcase, guaranteed to preserve it for 500 years.

But Lilly Friedman's dress had one more journey to make....... Bergen Belsen.

The museum, opened its doors on October 28, 2007.

The German government invited Lilly and her sisters to be their guests for the grand opening.

They initially declined, but finally traveled to Hanover the following year with their children, their grandchildren and extended families to view the extraordinary exhibit created for the wedding dress made from a parachute. Lilly's family, who were all familiar with the stories about the wedding in Celle , were eager to visit the synagogue.

They found the building had been completely renovated and modernized. But when they pulled aside the handsome curtain they were astounded to find that the Aron Kodesh, made from a kitchen cabinet, had remained untouched as a testament to the profound faith of the survivors.

As Lilly stood on the bimah once again...... she beckoned to her granddaughter, Jackie, to standbeside her where she was once a kallah.

"It was an emotional trip. We cried a lot."

Two weeks later, the woman who had once stood trembling before the selective eyes of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, returned home and witnessed the marriage of her granddaughter.

The three Lax sisters - Lilly, Ilona and Eva, who together survived Auschwitz, a forced labour camp, a death march and Bergen Belsen - have remained close and today live within walking distance of each other in Brooklyn. As mere teenagers, they managed to outwit and outlive amonstrous killing machine, then went on to marry, have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and were ultimately honoured by the country that had earmarked them for extinction.

As young brides, they had stood underneath the chuppah and recited the blessings that their ancestors had been saying for thousands of years. In doing so, they chose to honour the legacy of those who had perished by choosing life.Dear Yaddy:I am the author of the story "The Wedding Gown That Made History" originally published in The Jewish Press Weekly Magazine. Here is the link:http://www.thejewishpress.com/pageroute.do/37658

Please add my byline to this unauthorized version and add: Helen Zegerman Schwimmer is the author of the acclaimed anthology, "Like The Stars of The Heavens" available from amazon.com.Helen Zegerman Schwimmer

Q: "Were you present, when your picture was taken?"A: "duh...." ( no answer!)

Q: She had three boys....right?" A: "yes" Q: How many of these were girls?" A: "none"

Q: How did your marriage end?" A: "By death" Q: "By whose death was it ended?"

Q: " Do you remember the time of the autopsy?"A: " Around 8.30am" Q: "And, Mr Denning was dead at this time?"A: "No...no.....he was sitting on my desk, wondering what I was doing..."Q: "Before you did the autopsy...did you check for a pulse?" A: "No..."Q: " Did you check for blood pressure?" A: "No"Q: " Did you check for breathing?" A: "No"Q: "So, then, it is possible that the patient was alive....before you began?"A: "No..." Q: "How can you be so sure DOCTOR?"A "Because his brain was sitting in a jar on my desk...!"Q: But...he could have been alive?"A" Yes......he could have been practicing some profession somewhere...."

An elderly couple were having dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the women went into the kitchen.The two husbands were talking, and one said, "Last night, we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great, I would recommend it highly!"The other man said, "What was the name of this place?"

The first man thought for a while then said, " What is the name of that flower you give someone you love, the one that's red and has thorns?"The reply was, "Do you mean a rose?""Yes," he said, "That's the one....." then he turned to the kitchen and yelled...."Hey Rose....what was the name of that restaurant we went to last night?"Blessings.....Yaddy

Followers

LinkWithin

About Me

I am a mum, and curious, interested in what other people think and why!
Don't like blasphemous or bad language, it shows a lack of education, as those who use it obviously can't think of another word to use in it's stead.
I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart,and want to share Him as much as I possibly can, and to shine the light of truth on some deceptions that plague the churches today. We must be Berean, search the scriptures and make sure what is being preached is indeed the Word of God, and not some man made policy!
So many times we are tempted to take something or someone at face value, just because it "claims" to be christian, be it a "band" "book" or movie. There are many deceptions and we must be aware of them and make sure what we hear lines up with Scripture.